in Hackney parish church, where his monument, containing a half-length statue and a eulogistic description of him, still remains. On 11 Nov., just before his death, he left 30l. to repair the 'causeway or path that runs from Hackney Church to Shoreditch, for the benefit of the poorest sort of people, that maintain their livelihood by the carriage of burdens to the city of London.' The surplus was to be devoted to the poor of the parish in which most of his active life was spent. He also left 20l. to buy Hebrew books for St. John's College Library. His successor as bishop, Edward Griffith, dean of Bangor, was recommended by Dolben himself for the post. Dr. Dolben, archbishop of York, belonged to the same family, to which Archbishop Williams was also related.
[Baker's Hist. of St. John's Coll. Cambridge, ed. Mayor, pp. 264, 339, 677; D. E. Thomas's Hist. of St. Asaph; Cal. of State Papers, Dom. 1631-3 pp. 84, 283, 1633-4 pp. 110, 318; Wood's Athenae Oxon., ed. Bliss, ii. 881; Browne Willis's Survey of Bangor, pp. 111-12; Le Neve's Fasti Eccles. Angl. ed. Hardy, i. 85, 106; Robinson's Hist. of Hackney, ii. 22, 108, 157, 364 ; J. Williams's Records of Denbigh and its Lordship, v. 130.]
DOLBEN, Sir GILBERT (1658–1722), judge, eldest son of John Dolben [q. v.], archbishop of York, born in 1658, was educated at Westminster School and at Oxford, taking, however, no degree, and was called to the bar of the Inner Temple in 1681. He sat for Ripon in the parliament of 1685, and for Peterborough in the Convention parliament of 1688–9. In the debate on the state of the nation (January 1689) he argued with great force that the conduct of the king in quitting the realm amounted to an abdication. He represented Peterborough from 1689 to 1698 and from 1700 to 1710, usually supporting the tories. He opposed Fenwick's attainder in 1696, on the ground that his conduct, though treasonable, was not heinous enough to justify parliamentary proceedings, but ought to be tried by a court of law. He was appointed a puisne judge in the court of common pleas in Ireland in 1701. In the debate on the Aylesbury election case (Ashby v. White) in 1704, he supported the claim of the House of Commons to exclusive jurisdiction in all questions arising out of elections. He was created a baronet in 1704, and elected a bencher of his inn in 1706, and reader in 1708. In 1710 and 1713 he was returned to parliament for Yarmouth, Isle of Wight. Concerning his life in Ireland little is known except that he was on bad terms with the Earl of Wharton during that nobleman's viceroyalty. He retired from the bench in 1720, and died 22 Oct. 1722. He cherished scholarly tastes; Dryden mentions in the postscript to his translation of the ‘Æneid’ that Dolben had made him a ‘noble present of all the several editions of Virgil, and all the commentaries of these editions in Latin.’ Dolben married Anne, eldest daughter of Tanfield Mulso of Finedon, Northamptonshire, by whom he had one son, John [q. v.], who succeeded to the title.
[Welch's Alumni Westmonast.; Inner Temple Books; Wotton's Baronetage; Smyth's Law Officers of Ireland; Luttrell's Relation of State Affairs, iii. 543, v. 49; Parl. Hist. iv. 1347, v. 30, 37, 545, 962, 1123–6, 1230, 1327, vi. 43, 290–4, 448, 593, 923, 1252; Swift's Works, ed. Scott, iv. 165.]
DOLBEN, JOHN (1625–1686), archbishop of York (1683–6), was the eldest son of Dr. William Dolben [q. v.], prebendary of Lincoln and rector of Stanwick, Northamptonshire, where he was born 20 March 1625. His mother was niece to Lord-keeper Williams, on whose nomination when twelve years of age he was admitted king's scholar at Westminster, and educated there under Dr. Busby [q. v.] In 1640, at the early age of fifteen, he was elected student of Christ Church, Oxford, and was ‘the second in order of six succeeding generations of one family who passed through the same course of education, and did good service in their day to church and state.’ Two years after his election he composed a set of Latin iambics to celebrate the return of Charles I from Scotland in 1641, which were published in a work entitled ‘Oxonia Eucharistica.’ When two years later Oxford became the central position of the royal military operations, twenty of the hundred students of Christ Church became officers in the king's army (Wood, Annals, ed. Gutch, ii. 478). Of these Dolben was one of the most ardent. He joined the royal forces as a volunteer, accompanied the army on their northward march, and rose to the rank of ensign. At Marston Moor, 2 July 1644, while carrying the colours, he was wounded in the shoulder by a musket ball. This, however, did not prevent his taking an active part in the defence of the city of York, then beleaguered by Fairfax. During the siege he received a severe shot-wound in the thigh, the bone of which was broken, and he was confined to his bed for twelve months. As a reward for his bravery he was promoted to the rank of captain and major. But in 1646, the royal cause becoming hopeless, the army was disbanded, and Dolben returned to Christ Church to pursue the studies which had been thus rudely interrupted. Being now of M.A.
